The Haunted Conductor
by Diamondwillow
Summary: Danny Phantom AU where things are a BIT different. (ok a lot different. But not by much) Danny is an aspiring symphony conductor and is working hard to make his dreams a reality. There are many obsticals, both dead and alive, that he has to get past to reach the finish line. Luckly he has his friends to help him through most of it. (Was a oneshot but I'm now continuing it. Enjoy!)
1. The Big Performance

Danny took in a few shallow breaths before walking onto the center stage. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he started on this path and now the truth was right in front of him. The dream of becoming a symphonic conductor was finally becoming a reality.

The young halfa turned towards the audience and bowed as the people, and ghosts nobody else could see, gave out a loud applause. Danny turned and allowed his back to face the crowd as he raised his hands in front of his symphony. There were so many different instruments in his lead, he couldn't possibly remember the names of every single one. The best he could do was identify the strings, brass, drums, and pianos. He knew Vlad could do much better, but he wasn't about to admit to that any time soon, even if the older halfa might have been sitting in the VIP section watching his every move.

Danny let one last breath leave his lips before counting the tempo of the first piece in his head. He glanced at the sheet music in front of him and back at the musicians. His right hand tightened its grip on his baton as he flung it down roughly in a swift motion right after a quick and obvious deep breath. He continued his counting to the fast beat as he lead the musicians in front of him, his breathing staying in rhythm with the instruments. A few measures flew by before Danny cued in the next section to start playing their part with the strings.

He continued the rehearsed piece as if he knew it like the back of his hand. Though, he probably knew it even better than the back of his hand. Danny was able to expertly cue in and cut off every part like it was child's play.

As they started reaching the halfway point, Danny was calming down and allowing himself to smile and loosen up to the quick tempo of the music. With a nearly unnoticeable flick of his finger, he cued in his secret weapon to make tonight an even greater success. His ghostly companions had their own instruments at the ready as they began to blend into the music. Danny didn't know anyone, apart from Vald and himself, who could see the orchestrated ghosts, but that shouldn't stop the audience from slightly hearing them with the amount of spirits he had gathered for tonight. The ghosts played loud and strong, giving the piece the perfect haunting tune it previously lacked.

Danny's eyes seemed to tint green in the light with the thrill of conducting in front of the large mass of bodies behind him; most alive, some not. He could especially feel the daggers Vlad seemed to be glaring at him.

Through the last portion of the music, the tempo only got quicker. Danny waved his hands in what could only be seen as frantic to the untrained eye, yet every one of the musicians followed along with precision. As the last note tore through the souls of everyone around them, Danny raised his fisted hands above his head to signal the dramatic ending.

The first piece was finished and they went straight to the next two without much of a break. By the end of it all, Danny had sweat beading on his forehead in a glossy blanket. His eyes converted back to their spectacular blue as he re-adjusted his posture and quickly slicked back his hair out of his eyes. With a deep breath, he turned and bowed towards the now roaring crowd. He stood back up straight and was able to sneak a quick glance at the clear night sky above the outdoor performing stage. The stars were difficult to see through the bright lights, but he thanked them for guiding him on his journey anyway.

The curtains began closing as the cheering started to die down. Danny could hear the host of tonight's show walk out and begin to thank the audience for attending. As for everyone behind the curtain, it was their cue to pack up and get to the main area with tables set up for autographing. Danny was sure he didn't want to sit and give autographs after every concert, but he was willing to let it slide this time since it was his first big performance.

The stage crew set to work almost instantly as everyone gathered their instruments and music sheets to bring backstage to pack up. Danny picked up his baton and booklet of sheet music and pranced off the stage.

A few of the musicians gave a side glance and smile at the young conductor as he skipped off to the back. They enjoyed and usually preferred him to some of the other conductors in the area. He never yelled or belittled a new musician who joined his symphonies or made a mistake. Danny was always calm and started everything slow for them to catch on.

There were rumors that some people had seen his eyes shine green during his conducting, but the rumors never ventured far from just it being a trick of the light. There was also speculation as to why the young composer would choose to have symphonies in outdoor amphitheaters. Some thought that it might have been to let the music travel through the space more naturally, but hardly anyone had any proof on that. Others just thought it helped the audience not to fall asleep on colder nights. In reality, it wasn't either reason. Danny just liked seeing the stars.

The halfa dashed past the room that held the musicians cases, to get a head start on the line that was already forming at his table. There were a few other empty tables next to his intended for the older well known musicians who played for him in his symphony.

He sat in his seat and set his music sheets and baton down on the smooth surface. Danny started signing away with a grin plastered on his young face. The line never seemed to get any shorter as five minutes turned into ten and ten into thirty. His wrist was starting to become stiff causing Danny to call an end for the night.

He walked to a room behind the stage and searched for his family. He couldn't exactly leave without them; they were his ride after all. With a sigh, Danny realized they hadn't made it to their pre-set meeting place yet. The only natural reason he could come up with to excuse their tardiness would be his parents being caught up in a conversation about ghosts or him or even both.

Danny sat down in a chair and checked the status of his phone. Sam and Tucker must have been stuck in the conversation too for them not to have been here by now. He looked up when he heard the door opening, expecting his friends and family. His smile faltered as he saw the graying man shut the door behind himself.

The boy lifted his phone back up to his face in an attempt to distract himself from the older conductor. He mumbled a single disgusted "Vlad" and went on pretending he didn't exist.

"Now that's no way to treat your number one fan." Vlad's voice dripped with mockery.

"What is it you want, Vlad?" Danny's voice growled as cold as it had been since he first walked in.

"I only wanted to congratulate you, my dear boy. Your very first performance was absolutely breathtaking. I'm sure the dead are stirring in their graves just for a chance to hear it again."

Danny looked up from his device, which wasn't even on in the first place, "You shouldn't mock the dead."

Vlad smirked, "Why? You think they can do something to stop me? You know full well how much control we have over them with our powers if your performance tonight has anything to say about it."

Danny's frown deepened, "My powers have nothing to do with tonight. The spirits volunteered by their own choosing."

Vlad showed no visible reaction, "Well that's a real shame. If you'd just use your powers to their full extent, you might have been able to get just as far as I have."

"I'm nothing like you, Vlad."

The manipulative man chuckled, "Indeed you aren't, little badger. Why else do you think I support you so much?"

It was Danny's turn to laugh, "Ha! You only come for the opportunity to see my mom."

Vlad nodded, "While it is true that I admire your mother, I still support you and I advise you to use your powers more in the future. The competition out there is tough. If you want to be recognized for your great potential, you need to push yourself to the top."

Danny glared at him, "I don't need your help. I'm doing perfectly fine on my own."

"Really?" Vlad stepped forward, "How's that arm of yours?"

The young halfa's body tensed, "It's fine."

The tall man took another step, "You were autographing for a while out there. It didn't become too stiff, now did it?"

Danny's voice remained hard, "It's. Fine."

Vlad frowned seeing he wasn't getting far and turned to go back to the door, "Watch yourself, little badger."

The door shut behind him leaving Danny alone with his thoughts. He wasn't sure whether his words were a warning or a threat, and it chilled him to the bone.


	2. The First Obstical

Danny and Tucker sat in the seats direcrly next to Sam. Tucker wasn't suppose to be in the orchestra class, but as long as he got to his own class before the first bell, there wasn't any real problem. Sam was in her usual seat as first chair cello, and Danny was borrowing the cellos second chair to talk with his group of friends before he had to move to his own seat.

The concert the previous night had drained Danny's internal battery enough that he just wanted to go straight to bed and hadn't much time to actually talk to anyone. Sam was just as tired as she leaned against her cello like it was the only thing keeping her up. The only one who didn't seem completely out of it was Tucker, who probably had a gallons worth of coffee that morning. How he got ahold of so much coffee, they would never know.

Tucker currently was going on and on about his new phone. Coffee made him this talkative in the morning and Sam and Danny were just too tired to care. The bell couldn't have been more of a blessing as their ears were finally released from the early morning torture. Tucker ran off to get to his first period while Danny went to his own seat not too far from Sam's.

The class started as it always did. They quickly tuned and got ready to start practicing the first piece. However, Ms. Ross, the orchestra teacher, wasn't there. Instead it was a completely different woman who walked out of the back office into the main room.

Her red hair was so unusually bright, it could put Jazz's natural hair to shame. It was even cut short and spiked up to look like a burning flame. If she was attempting to fit into the "hip" crowd, she was saddly failing.

She combed her fingers through her hair as she began to introduce herself, "My name is Ms. Spectra. Your normal teacher is out due to family matters, so I'm covering for her today."

The students all looked at each other questioningly as the substitute sat herself in an empty chair at the front of the room. When a few minutes passed, the red head looked up from her phone with a blank face.

She stared right back at the class as she spoke nonchalantly, "I'm not a music teacher so just do whatever you're supposed to."

Doing as told, the class began practicing without any clear order between them. A few students moved their seats so they could practice with someone else in the room. Danny himself moved closer to Sam so they could practice their duet together. They didn't really need more practice, but it was better than doing nothing.

Danny was trying hard to ignore it, but he felt a sickening atmosphere emiting from the substitute. He couldn't quite tell, though he was almost sure that he could see the spiritual energy in the room being drawn into the woman much like a black hole. What was also unsettling was the fact he couldn't see any of the spirits he'd normally be talking to around this time.

Sam didn't need to ask to know that something was bothering the boy, "Okay, stop. You're not focused."

Danny blinked a few times to clear his thoughts, "What? No, I'm focused."

The goth shook her head, "Obviously not, or you wouldn't of missed that pickup note."

Danny couldn't help but laugh at how observant Sam was, "Alright, fine. I'm distracted."

Sam placed her bow on the music stand and leaned against her cello towards her violinist friend, "What's on your mind?"

The halfa set his bow on top of Sam's and rested the smaller instrument on his lap, "It's stupid, really, but Ms. Spectra is giving me some bad vibes."

Sam smiled, "Is it the hair? It looks a lot like devil horns."

Danny tried to cover his laugh, "I thought it looked more like her head was on fire."

Both of them smiled and turned to look at the lady who was completely absorbed in her phone. The feeling Danny had was only getting stronger and he could feel himself greeting weaker. Pretty soon he was unable to even lift his right arm.

With his left hand, Danny reached into his backpack and pulled out a thermos. He carefully unscrewed the top to reveal glowing green liquid inside. He wore a sour face as he downed a few gulps and then quickly pulled it from his lips. Energy was brought back to his right arm after a few seconds only to drain just as fast.

Danny stared at his unmoving fingers in confusion, "That much ecto-energy was suppose to last me till at least lunch."

Sam scooted closer to get a better look at his prosthetic, "Maybe there's something wrong with it?"

He shook his head, "It was working perfectly fine earlier. There's no evidence that anything happened between now and then for it to be acting up."

Sam looked up at Danny as he turned to face the strange lady at the front of the room, "You think it's the substitute?"

Danny shot her a look, "Who else would it be? Shes the only variable thats been different!"

Sam raised her hands in defence, "Hey, if you want to talk to some mystery lady and ask her to stop draining the power from your weird ghostly prosthetic, be my guest."

The boy gulped, "Well when you put it that way, of course I'm not going to be straight out about it. But I can't just sit here with my arm as useless as it is. I need _some_ way to get her to spill the beans."

Sam was quiet for a moment as she considered their options, "Go up to her and ask to visit the nurse. You'll be able to get a better feel of any powers she might have then."

Danny couldn't think of any better plan and hesitantly agreed. Slowly he walked towards the front of the room with the chaos of the orchestra in the background. With no energy to power his prosthetic, it hung limply at his side as he grew closer to the black hole in disguise.

Danny stood in front of the distracted subsitute and cleared his throat to gain her attention. He instantly recognized a shift in the atmosphere as she focused her eyes on him. However, before he could even utter a single word, her eyes widened and cut him off.

"Its you!"

Danny nearly choked on his words, "Excuse me?"

"You're the one!"

He tried to shake the uneasy feeling away as he rejected her statement, "Sorry but I think you're thinking of someone else."

She shook her head with a confident smile, "No, it's definitely you! I've never felt such power radiating from someone like this before!"

Danny attempted to keep up his emotionless mask, "I could say the same about you."

Ms. Spectra smirked, "So how do you do it? How does a weak form such as yourself hold so much power?"

The aura around the lady suddenly shifted like it was slowly pulling Danny in inch by inch. Her facial features never changed, but there was a look in her eyes that told him something was off.

The halfa narrowed his eyes, "What are you?"

The substitute leaned back in her seat and tried to look relaxed, "It would seem I'm very similar to you, Daniel. Though I'm also very different."

Danny stated anther question that was on his mind, "What did you do to my arm?"

Ms. Spectra looked honestly confused, "Your arm?"

Danny glared at her, "Yes _my arm!_ What do you think you've been draining this entire time?"

She sat up and placed her hand on her chin, "Now _that's_ different. I'll talk to you after class. Go to the nurse to get your arm figured out and grab a pass while you're at it."

Danny didn't complain as he packed his violin back into his locker and bid Sam a farewell. He was gaining a headache just from standing in the same room as her and was more than happy to finally be out. His backpack was heaved over his left shoulder as he walked down the halls of Casper High School to the nurse.

By the time he arrived, there was already another kid there getting some help from the busy nurse. Danny waited patiently as the kid got the medicine for his allergies taken care of and then spoke.

"Hello Ms. Carol. Long time no see." Danny shrugged off his backpack into an empty chair and gave the nurse a gentle wave.

Ms. Carol looked up from a stack of papers, "Danny? I usually don't see you until after lunch."

The trouble maker subconsciously started rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah, today's just not a good day for my arm."

The nurse grumbled, "I barely have the capabilities to merely perform routine checkups on your prosthetic let alone fix it."

Danny let out a nervous laugh, "I know, I know. There was just something in the classroom interfering with it and the sub got worried so she sent me down. I'll be as good as new by the time next hour rolls around."

The older woman rolled her eyes, "And I suppose you'll need a pass?"

Danny grinned, "Yup! Gotta head back to first hour 'cause I forgot some stuff."

She sighed, "Of course. Just be quick about it and get to your next class. You don't need any more tardies."

Ms. Carol pulled out a slip of paper and wrote out the needed information for Danny. As soon as the passing bell rang, he headed straight back to the orchestra room where Ms. Spectra was waiting. Of course she was still completely absorbed in her phone.

As soon as Danny had entered into the room, he could tell something was still being drained from him, despite his arm being completely dead. He ignored it the best he could and walked over to the distracted adult.

He cleared his throat, "You wanted to speak with me?"

Ms. Spectra looked up and gave Danny a carefree, devilish grin, "Of course! I wanted to talk about your arm without any other ears prying. As you can see, there is no orchestra class this hour meaning I'm completely open to talking without any disturbances."

Danny couldn't help but frown, "I assume you draining the spiritual energy from this place is no accident then?"

The teacher gave him a wink, "Right you are! Absolutely love the stuff! It just makes my skin so soft!"

The boy's face went blank, "You mean you live off the natural energy of spirits? How does that work?"

Ms. Spectra wagged a finger at Danny, "Not so fast. I can't just go off telling every single person who comes across my ability my secrets. I can tell you I do feed off of the dead that linger, but I'm not about to tell you why or how. That information will just have to stick with me."

Danny had a thought, "You can consume ecto-energy then. The stuff that powers my arm and most ghosts."

The odd lady shrugged, "If it's just another name for ghost essence, then yes. I truly didn't mean to drain your arm there. It's just what happens."

Danny took a slight step forward, "What if I gave you some of the ecto-energy I keep in my backpack and in return stop draining the spirits in the school?"

As soon as he opened his thermos and revealed the contents, Ms. Spectra scrunched her nose in disgust, "Sorry, but I don't drink that _pure_ stuff. It cracks my skin. I'd much rather take it at a much lower purity percentage."

Danny frowned, "Oh. Well then just stay away from me then. I don't need to lose function of my arm every time you show up."

The substitute smiled, "I make no such promises, Daniel. I cover for many teachers in this school as well as act as the schools guidance counclor. We are more than likely to meet up again."

Danny looked away, "Well I better get to my next class. Ms. Klein won't wait for me forever."

With that last word, he walked out the door to head to his worst subject. U.S. government. He took another gulp of his glowing green drink and only hoped he wouldn't cross her path again. Though, with his luck it was unlikely.

 **Thank you everyone who reads this! I liked the first chapter and so did everyone else I've showed it to! My world building is practically complete and I'm mostly working on the main plot, but other than that, I think I'll continue writing! I don't have an update schedule so updates can range from the next day to maybe months away. Either way, tell me what you think because I love your feedback! Any criticism is accepted just try not to be rude about it, thanks.** **'u'**


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